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Hyatt Place rendering

Aug. 20, 2019 -- The first hotel on the Wichita State campus is beginning construction. A 106-room Hyatt Place hotel will break ground next week on Wichita State’s Innovation Campus, within walking distance of the new Fuzzy’s Tacos, the Shocker Store and Starbucks.

Placemaking coordinator Kristin Beal

August 15, 2019 - Kristin Beal is Wichita State’s newly hired placemaking coordinator, and almost all ideas, materials, formats and venues are in play when it comes to using art as a way to make the campus a place to enjoy and explore.

WuShock sculpture in progress

Aug. 7, 2019 -- The Wichita State University campus will soon be home to a larger-than-life sculpture of its beloved WuShock mascot, thanks to Steve Clark – a longtime Greater Wichita YMCA board member, volunteer and donor – for whom the area’s tenth YMCA branch location will be named.

Celine, Bishop, Haley and Lily sitting in front of their mural.

July 31, 2019 - Fine arts students Haley Ensz, Lily Guillen, Bishop Rice and Celine Sengvilay recently returned from a trip to Peru with Wichita State professor Lori Santos. They spent several days working with children at the Institución Educativa José María Arguedas, an elementary school in Lima.

Students drum during a performing arts class.

July 30, 2019 - On June 23, Wichita State welcomed 40 high school students from across the country for Envision’s week-long Level Up conference. Envision, an organization that promotes advocacy and independence for individuals who are blind or visually impaired, has held its annual high school conference at Wichita State for the past several years.

Gina Brown, physician assistant professor

Gina Brown believes that case studies are the best possible way to make sure that students are incorporating everything they learn into their practice during their first year in physician assistant (PA) school. Through the PA faculty’s combined efforts, Gina hopes that students leave with the skills, knowledge and character necessary to provide patients with care that’s in their best interest.

Connor Phelps and Jackson Drake, marketing and game operations interns with Shocker Athletics

July 24, 2019 -- It’s easy to take the free t-shirts, halftime performances and musical chairs on the Charles Koch Arena basketball court for granted. But, during every Shocker Athletics game, a team of student marketing and game operations interns follows a carefully choreographed plan to make sure fans have a good time in between each play.

Rick Pappas, professor of physical education

In Rick Pappas' elementary school classroom, PE became a way to channel classroom lessons with physical activity. When he began teaching elementary PE at WSU in 2009, he taught his college students the same lesson.

Wichita State students at Cornerstone Data

June 28, 2019 -- Wichita State students are spending their summer helping the city use its data and share it across departments. The experiences researching, organizing and cataloguing the information are amplifying their classroom lessons in areas ranging from software to teamwork, trust and communication.

Cayleigh Beshears in her white coat

June 19, 2019 - Cayleigh Beshears, a recent graduate of the Doctor of Physical Therapy program, has let her circumstances guide her, but never define her.

Gordon Vadakin

June 19, 2019 - Gordon Vadakin discusses his retirement from Wichita State bowling after building the program over 40-plus years as bowler and coach.

Riverfest parade float

June 5, 2019 -- Ever wonder how the floats are chosen for the Wichita Riverfest Sundown Parade? Turns out the people working behind the scenes to make one of Wichita’s iconic events a success are none other than a Wichita State instructor and a group of art students.

Students in Kansas African American Museum library

May 24, 2019 -- Wichita State University Work Systems students helped the Kansas African American Museum change to a database that is more streamlined and adaptable than its previous system.

Wichita State SLI team interviews with NASA correspondents after their rocket launch. Photo credit: Scott Miller

May 21, 2019 - Four Wichita State University aerospace engineering students have placed seventh in NASA’s Student Launch Initiative competition. The team designed, built and launched a rocket to complete a simulated Moon mission.

Rexy Que

May 15, 2019 -- Some of Rexy Que's proudest moments at Wichita State involve the progress they made to help campus improve the experience of LGBTQ students. Now as they prepare to move on from WSU, Rexy is ready to continue taking on new challenges after they graduate.